劍問蒼天 - 第194章 足跡 - 翰墨軒

Jin Pingyue was somewhat surprised, but since it was no bad thing, she was rather pleased. A smile spreading across her face, she was about to step forward and tease the monkey when, after grinning for only a moment, it suddenly opened its mouth and spat out something black, with great speed, flying straight toward where Jin Pingyue stood.

Jin Pingyue gave a start, but she was no ordinary person and did not panic. With a slight twist of her foot she forced her body a few inches to the side, letting the strange object pass her by.

With a soft thud, the thing struck the ground—and rather than bouncing up, it drove straight into the earth. Jin Pingyue turned to look: it was a wild fruit pit. Xiao Hui must have been keeping one in its mouth all this while, savoring the taste, and now it had used it to make sport of her.

To be made a fool of by a monkey—Jin Pingyue felt a stir of anger, and her fair face paled a little. She shot a glare sideways and saw that the gray-furred monkey had at some point turned around to sit facing her, seated backward on Ming Li's shoulder, arms folded across its chest, both feet dangling and swinging, its three eyes fixed on the sky, its face wearing an expression of sheer arrogance—the very picture of a legendary hooligan. Even its long tail swayed to and fro behind it, as much as to say: That's right, I bullied you. I'm a hooligan—who's afraid?

Jin Pingyue would have been better off not looking; the sight only made her angrier. She hurried a few steps to catch up with Ming Li and said furiously, "What kind of upbringing does this monkey of yours have? Spitting fruit pits at people out of nowhere—do you know about that?"

Ming Li turned slowly and looked at her, his expression somewhat odd. After a pause he said, "Are you scolding it?" And he pointed at Xiao Hui.

Jin Pingyue nodded.

Xiao Hui flew into a rage at once. It sprang up from Ming Li's shoulder, chattering wildly, its three eyes glaring round, both hands clenched into fists, gesturing furiously. It looked ready to pick a fight with the tattletale Jin Pingyue, its manner thoroughly intimidating.

Jin Pingyue had not expected a gray-furred monkey to be so uncannily like a human. She was taken aback, stepped back, then ignored it and said loudly to Ming Li, "I am scolding it! This beast is truly detestable. If you keep it, you ought to teach it properly—"

"You!" Suddenly Ming Li spoke up in a voice he seldom used, barking a single word at Xiao Hui—and cutting Jin Pingyue off mid-sentence as well.

Xiao Hui started and froze. Jin Pingyue was startled too and looked at Ming Li. He had his brows drawn, his face stern, and he scolded Xiao Hui: "I told you long ago to read more. Only through books does one learn reason, and you never listen. That copy of Chronicles of Gods and Demons I gave you last time—why haven't you studied it? Go copy it out three hundred times and then come see me!"

Xiao Hui's three eyes went wide, blinking and blinking. It raised a hand to scratch its monkey head, scratched again, then once more—plainly dumbfounded. Jin Pingyue, meanwhile, was no better off. After the initial shock she could not help a cold laugh. "What nonsense are you saying? However much this monkey resembles a human, I've never heard of one that can read and write!"

Ming Li turned and glanced at her. "Oh," he said, as though only now realizing it, and went on mildly, "In that case, since even you say so, then the monkey's lack of breeding is not my fault. Heaven breeds the ten thousand things—why can a monkey not read? Why, why?"

He looked at Jin Pingyue and heaved a sigh utterly devoid of sincerity. Without another word he turned and walked on ahead.

Jin Pingyue was left choking on her anger, her face pale.